Texas Guard on Iraq stability

By Amanda Sakuma, Houston Chronicle :
December 7, 2011

Texas National Guard commanders told Congress Nov. 30 that Iranian influence could threaten Iraq's fragile stability after the U.S. military's departure from the country by the end of the year.

”There's quite a bit of Iranian influence,” cautioned Army Maj. Gen. Eddy M. Spurgin. ”The legal piece of it, the malign influence that exists there now will probably continue to be there after the U.S. military leaves” by Dec. 31.

Spurgin and other commanders of the roughly 25,000-member Texas National Guard told of their concerns in statements to the House Armed Services Committee and the Texas congressional delegation.

The Texas officers who led 700 Guard members in southern areas of war-torn Iraq said Iranian weapons smuggling and militia training could imperil the delicate hold that U.S. troops had on the region.

”They still are weak when it comes to intel, and sharing intelligence,” Spurgin said of the Iraqi Army. ”They are not ready to expel from their country an external threat.”

Spurgin said 15 soldiers under his command were killed and 80 were wounded. The Texas National Guard has deployed 35,000 guardsman since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The commanders expressed doubts about whether the Iraqi government had the training and cultural willingness to establish legitimate political rule across a nation long divided by ethnic and religious differences.

”We had several challenges with their judicial system. They essentially operated on a catch-and-release program,” said Lt. Col. Carlton G. Smith. He cited cases where distant relatives of Iraqi judges were often released by Iraqi authorities, counteracting efforts by U.S. troops. ”I think until that is fixed, that is still going to be an issue.”

Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Midland, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said the Iraqi government will not achieve the standards of governance that Americans have come to expect at home.

”That's never going to be Texas — we don't want it to be,” Conaway said. ”It won't be as good as ours, but it's their country.”

Spurgin said analysts had feared that increased National Guard deployments to Iraq would imperil the Guard's ability to respond to natural disasters on the home front. But he and other commanders reported that wartime training and missions have actually enhanced the National Guard's ability to deal with challenges both at home and abroad.

”When Gov. Perry ever asked us to respond, we had that capability because we are such a large organization,” Spurgin said.

Even though Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 at the height of Texas National Guard's deployment, the force was able to respond with 12,000 troops for help in the aftermath of the storm at a time when 6,000 Guard personnel were deployed in Iraq.

Maj. Gen. John F. Nichols, appointed by Gov. Rick Perry as Texas' adjutant general earlier this year, said the burden of paying for the Guard's response to natural disasters fell to the states.

In response to the string of wildfires last summer, he said the Texas National Guard assisted in air and ground efforts to quell the flames that cost the state a total $304 million for the Guard and other fire-fighting operations.

”We have so much invested in the National Guard at such a cheap rate,” Nichols said, noting that the Army National Guard receives just 11 percent of the Army budget. ”We get all of that bang for a little teeny buck.”